In season of firsts, Indian Creek finishes atop C Conference

TOWSON — This was a year of firsts for the Indian Creek volleyball team.

The Eagles played their first-ever match and recorded their first win on the same day. They finished the regular season as the top seed in the Interscholastic Athletic Association of Maryland C Conference with a 7-1 conference record.

As they advanced to the championship match on Saturday at Goucher College, it would have been easy to just chalk up the season as a success regardless of what happened against Friends.

It didn’t look good early, as the Eagles fell in a 10-point hole, then had to stave off 10 set points. They eventually rallied to win the set, then took the next two and won the C Conference championship, 30-28, 25-23, 25-20.

Freshman Laila Ivey clinched the match with the last of her 20 kills for the Eagles.

“We had the first (set) jitters,” Indian Creek coach Corey Somerville said. “I brought them together and told them to fight. We’ve been here before, and they just pulled it together mentally and we fought our way back.”

Trailing 24-14 in the first set, Reese Fortier served 11 straight points to put the Eagles ahead. The teams then traded points before Alex Walls clinched the set with a kill.

“We have this thing where we start and we’re not giving it our all,” Walls said. “and then we come back and we fight so hard.”

Indian Creek (10-1) trailed sparingly over the next two sets before taking control in each. Megan Kuhns, one of just two seniors on the team, dove for a dig and sent the ball over the net all the way to the back row and to the floor to break an 11-11 tie that gave the Eagles the lead for good in the second set.

“All we do is fight. We worked too hard for this and we weren’t going to give up,” Kuhns said. “That’s what our coach has instilled in us, a sense of fighting. I have never been more proud of a team in my life.”

Ivey, one of two freshmen who played pivotal roles in the championship along with defensive specialist Alex Allen, had her best set of the match when she had nine kills in the third. The Eagles scored the first seven points of the set and never let the Quakers get closer than three points.

“I’ve scouted a lot of teams in the A and B Conference and she’s probably the most electrifying hitter I’ve seen in any conference,” Somerville said. “She’s special and she’s going to go places.”

With Walls and Kuhns as the catalysts, this was the first year as a varsity volleyball team for the Eagles. They played all of their matches against IAAM C Conference teams and lost just once. After falling in five sets to St. Timothy’s on Sept. 25, they closed the season with eight straight wins.

Some might say the team defied expectations by winning a title, but those associated with the Eagles would disagree.

“When we first started, I said we were going to make a run for the championship, and nobody believed us,” Somerville said. “I told the team I had that much faith in myself and them to pull it together and become a competitive volleyball team. I knew we had a chance, so I just had to get them to believe in themselves.”

Sarah Hawes had seven aces in the match and scored 12 points off her serve in the third set. Charlotte Dickinson had a key block during the late run in the first set and Allen had a strong game at Libero for Indian Creek.